NHER 17783 (Building record) - Grady's Hotel, Norwich Road

Gradys Hotel, Norwich Road.

January 1973. Listed, Grade II.
See (S1).

November 1981. Building Survey.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU), while under restoration.
Large house of 1760s built over a remarkable cellar or undercroft with graffiti of mid 17th century.
Reused stone in house plinth.
Domed cistern.
See file notes (S2) for full report.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 26 November 1981. Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

For possible fireplaces in cellars see NHER 21508 (Great Yarmouth, 25 South Quay) etc.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU). Information from file notes (S2).
P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

1991.
S. White (NLA) reports cellar turned into restaurant (and called 13th century). Brick partitions, wine bins etc. removed; parts of central clunch piers clad in brick, other areas in artificial stone; floor relaid. Now called Grady's.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 20 September 1991. Information from file notes (S2).
P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

The revised listed building description 1995 reads the graffiti as '16 July 1765' and dates the house to 1760. The other date of 1655 is not mentioned, and another source (possibly Swaffham Museum) commented in the late 1980s that this date had disappeared.
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 16 march 1999. Information from file notes (S2).
P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

Listing Description excerpt:
"House, now hotel. c.1760, converted in late 20th century. Red brick; roof of mixed red and black-glazed pantiles. Exterior: three storeys; three-window range. East front with...porch on unfluted Greek Doric columns...Brick bracketed eaves. Hipped roof with two stacks. North and south returns also thee-window ranges...Attached to south return is a single-storey 19th-century ballroom...hipped slate roof. Interior: ballroom with 20th-century egg-and-dart frieze…Cellar of five bays divided longitudinally by square brick piers, each carrying a groin vault of shaped clunch blocks. Lamp niches to side walls, some provided with smoke flues. Scratched date: 16 July 1765."
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.